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David Schoenfield
PHILADELPHIA — With one seventh-inning swing from Teoscar Hernandez and two starting pitchers used in relief, the narrative of the anticipated showdown between the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers took a twist as the Dodgers rallied from a three-run deficit to take a 5-3 win in Game 1 of the NL Division Series on Saturday night.
The Phillies, who have constructed their best bullpen during their four-year run of playoff appearances, suffered a familiar fate: a reliever blowing a lead late in a playoff game.
The Dodgers, who have suffered from bullpen problems all season, saw their pen hold the lead — albeit with a few nerves frayed in the process.
Hernandez’s two-out, three-run home run in the seventh off Matt Strahm was his third of the postseason. The blast capped the comeback and gave the victory to Shohei Ohtani, who struck out nine in six innings in his first career postseason start as a pitcher.
Tyler Glasnow, the projected Game 4 starter, then recorded five outs in relief, and Roki Sasaki, who returned late in the season from a shoulder injury to make two relief appearances and then one more against the Reds in the wild-card series, got the final three outs for his first big league save. Between those appearances, Alex Vesia — part of the much-maligned regular Dodgers relief corps — notched the biggest out of the game, inducing Edmundo Sosa to fly out to center field with the bases loaded to end the eighth inning.
Glasnow, who started warming up in the sixth inning when the Dodgers were trailing, entered with the lead. “It was definitely different,” said Glasnow, who last made a relief appearance when he was with the Pirates in 2018. “I was in the bathroom, and the phone rang and they yelled my name.”
Glasnow didn’t know if he’d pitch in the game. Beforehand, the coaching staff told him to go to the pen. Glasnow said he had been in relief mode since the wild-card series, throwing at least a few pitches every day in case he was needed.
He ran out of the bathroom. “I warmed up and it definitely felt weird, but fun; the adrenaline of kind of having more things going on, not needing as much effort to get the same stuff,” he said. “Then, Teo hit the home run.”
Cristopher Sanchez had dominated the Dodgers until Enrique Hernandez drilled a two-run double with two outs in the sixth, cutting the Dodgers’ deficit to 3-2. After David Robertson put two runners on in the seventh, Strahm faced the top of the Dodgers’ lineup, starting with a lefty-lefty matchup with Ohtani. Strahm struck him out looking, Ohtani’s fourth strikeout of the game. Mookie Betts popped up to third, and that brought up Teoscar Hernandez, who was ready for the at-bat.
“I watched videos. He likes to go up in the strike zone,” Hernandez said. “I think that’s when he’s stronger. And something up in the strike zone. My first three at-bats, I chased a lot of down. Not trying to do overswinging or anything like that. Maybe a hit. Try to bring in one run to tie the game. But he left it over the strike zone.”
It wasn’t a bad pitch by Strahm. Hernandez struggles on pitches up in the zone, and he had just two home runs all season on fastballs in the upper third of the strike zone. He didn’t miss this one, crushing Strahm’s 1-0 fastball 394 feet to right-center.
Hernandez was a postseason star last year for the Dodgers and homered twice in the first game against the Reds in the wild-card series. He now has 25 RBIs in his first 23 postseason games, tied with Rafael Devers and Scott Spiezio for the second most through 23 games behind only Lou Gehrig, who had 31.
Maybe it wasn’t a surprise that the rally occurred in the seventh inning. Miguel Rojas and Max Muncy mentioned before the game that hitting coach Aaron Bates said in the hitters’ meeting to be ready for the intensity and the crowd noise from the start of the game — and be ready for the seventh inning. “He said that we were going to have an opportunity to come back in the game,” Rojas said.
Glasnow is only a temporary bullpen solution because he’ll still start Game 4 if the series goes that long. Sasaki, however, has thrown four scoreless innings in his four relief appearances. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wouldn’t confirm that Sasaki is officially his closer.
“I felt good with Glas tonight in some capacity, given that he’s going to start a potential Game 4,” Roberts said. “I felt good about Vesia in some capacity tonight. And with Roki, I just felt that the lane right there, you know, asking Alex to do an up-down, I just felt comfortable with him right there. Honestly, I could have gone to a couple other guys in those spots, but just kind of knowing who I’ve got, I felt good about those guys we ran out there.”
The Phillies are staring at the same demons as 2023, when Craig Kimbrel lost twice in the NLCS to the Diamondbacks, and 2024, when Jeff Hoffman lost twice to the Mets in the NLDS and Strahm allowed four runs over two innings.
“I feel like I got gut-punched on missing two pitches,” said Strahm, who said he forgot about last year’s NLDS struggles. “And one of the two got damaged.”
Robertson, the veteran reliever who is 10th all time in postseason games pitched, said there is no panic. “We’re down one game. It’s not a big deal. Play the best three out of five, so we’ve got plenty of time to make up some ground,” he said. “We need to come back. We have the off day tomorrow. Come back and win a ballgame at home and then get ready to go on the road.”